How many signatures does it take to run for president in Arizona?

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - If you want to run for Tucson mayor, you need between 1,000 and 1,600 signatures to get on the ballot, depending whether you're a Democrat or a Republican.

To run for Congress in District 8, you need 700 to 1,500.

So how many do you need to get on the Arizona ballot for president?

Just one. Your own- on the state of Arizona nomination paper.

There are 22 candidates on the Republican ballot. Our bet is you haven't even heard of at least 15 of them.

Take Al "Dick" Perry- he's a longtime Tucson musician.

On his campaign website, he said he's running because he "has solutions to some, if not all, of the difficulties that threaten our future as a representative democracy."

We caught up with Sarah Gonzalez, the only woman on the ballot.

She said she was inspired by the occupy movement and wants to occupy politics. She said she's very liberal, though she's running on the Republican ticket.

"I've read about and met a lot of Republican voters who not necessarily interested in some of the candidates running and some of the extremists views that are now being tied to the Republican party and the Tea Party," Gonzalez said. "So I was thinking about labels and categories we put ourselves in and wondering what it would be like to run as a Republican. And who says I can't do that?"

On Matt Welch's Facebook page, he said anyone can run for president of the United States, at least in Arizona.

"I am also well aware of the fact that I haven't got a chance in Ajo of ever being elected president," he said, on his page. "But I can run! So why not?"

Simon Bollander ran as a Democrat in 2008. He said both parties are guilty of just choosing candidates who can bring in the most money- and ignoring what he calls the "Dark Horse Candidates".

"I'm being a realist. I'm a born leader and I have the pizzazz, I have the education, I was a CEO on a few corporations and right now I have the administrator of the World Masterminds, so I have the leadership role and I feel my leadership can take it above what Obama's doing and most of the presidents in the past," Bollander said.

In 2008, Bollander got 160 votes. His goal this year- a thousand.

In nearby states like California and New Mexico, you need signatures of 1-2 percent of registered voters to get on the ballot.

It's up to the individual state constitutions to set the ballot requirement for candidates.

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